The great age of the English essay: an anthology

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Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on the Text -- Introduction -- Map of Eighteenth-Century London -- 1. RICHARD STEELE (1672â€?1729) -- The Tatler (1709â€?11) -- No. 1. [Introducing the Tatler] -- No. 60. [Tom Wildair &c.] -- No. 89. [Sir Isaac Bickerstaff, Censor of Great Britain] -- No. 132. [The Old Prattlersâ€? Club] -- No. 214. [The Political Barometer] -- 2. JOSEPH ADDISON (1672â€?1719) -- The Tatler (1709â€?11) -- No. 155. [The Upholsterer] -- No. 158. [Tom Folio] -- No. 163. [Ned Softly, Sonneteer];From the pens of spectators, ramblers, idlers, tattlers, hypochondriacs, connoisseurs, and loungers, a new literary genre emerged in eighteenth-century England: the periodical essay. Situated between classical rhetoric and the novel, the English essay challenged the borders between fiction and nonfiction prose and helped forge the tastes and values of an emerging middle class. This authoritative anthology is the first to gather in one volume the consummate periodical essays of the period. Included are the Spectator cofounders Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, literary lion Samuel Johnson, and Romantic recluse Thomas De Quincey, addressing a wide variety of topics from the oddities of virtuosos to the private lives of parrots and the fantastic horrors of opium dreams. In a lively and informative introduction, Denise Gigante situates the essayists in the context of the contemporary Republic of Letters and highlights the stylistic innovations and conventions that distinguish the periodical essay as a literary form. Critical notes on the essays, a chronology, descriptions and a map of key London sites, and a glossary of eighteenth-century Englishterms complete the anthology-a uniquely pleasurable survey of the golden era of British essays. Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on the Text -- Introduction -- Map of Eighteenth-Century London -- 1. RICHARD STEELE (1672â€?1729) -- The Tatler (1709â€?11) -- No. 1. [Introducing the Tatler] -- No. 60. [Tom Wildair &c.] -- No. 89. [Sir Isaac Bickerstaff, Censor of Great Britain] -- No. 132. [The Old Prattlersâ€? Club] -- No. 214. [The Political Barometer] -- 2. JOSEPH ADDISON (1672â€?1719) -- The Tatler (1709â€?11) -- No. 155. [The Upholsterer] -- No. 158. [Tom Folio] -- No. 163. [Ned Softly, Sonneteer] No. 216. [Nicholas Gimcrack, the Virtuoso]No. 220. [The Church Thermometer] -- The Spectator (1711â€?12, 1714) -- No. 1. [Introducing Mr. Spectator] -- No. 26. [On Westminster Abbey] -- No. 46. [The Spectatorâ€?s Notes] -- No. 58. [On True and False Wit] -- No. 81. [Party Patches] -- No. 106. [A Visit to Sir Rogerâ€?s] -- No. 112. [Sir Roger at Church] -- No. 130. [Sir Roger and the Gypsies] -- No. 235. [The Trunk-Maker as Drama Critic] -- No. 409. [On Taste] -- No. 411. [The Pleasures of the Imagination] -- No. 529. [On Rank and Precedence] 3. ELIZA HAYWOOD (c. 1693â€?1756)The Female Spectator (1744â€?46) -- No. 1. [Martesia and Clitander] -- The Parrot (1746) -- No. 1. [Introduces Herself and Anticipates Critics] -- No. 2. [Oram] -- 4. SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709â€?84) -- The Rambler (1750â€?52) -- No. 4. [On Modern Romances, or Novels] -- No. 14. [On the Life of an Author vs. His Writing] -- No. 82. [On a Virtuoso] -- No. 113. [On the Trials of Courtship] -- No. 161. [On the Previous Inhabitants of His Garret] -- No. 188. [On Being Liked vs. Being Respected] -- No. 191. [A Young Belleâ€?s Complaint] €œThe Idler, â€? The Universal Chronicle (1758â€?60)No. 1. [Introducing the Idler] -- No. 17. [On Scientists and Cruelty to Animals] -- No. [22]. [The Vultureâ€?s Speech on War] -- No. 36. [On the Bugbear Style] -- No. 44. [The Burden of Memory] -- No. 60. [Dick Minim, the Critic] -- No. 84. [On Biography vs. Autobiography] -- No. 94. [On the Abatement of Learning and Bad Writing] -- No. 103. [On Last Things] -- 5. HENRY FIELDING (1707â€?54) -- The Covent Garden Journal (1752) -- No. 1. Introduction to a Journal of the Present Paper War No. 4. [On the Meaning of Common Words]No. 6. [Uses to Which Learning Is Put] -- No. 27. [On Betters and the Mob] -- 6. WILLIAM COWPER (1731â€?1800) -- The Connoisseur (1754â€?56) -- No. 111. [On Mothersâ€? Sons] -- No. 115. [On Being a Bachelor] -- No. 119. [On Keeping a Secret] -- No. 138. [On Conversation] -- 7. OLIVER GOLDMSITH (c. 1730â€?74) -- The Bee (1759) -- Introduction -- Happiness, in a Great Measure, Dependent on Constitution -- The Sagacity of Some Insects -- 8. JAMES BOSWELL (1740â€?95)